1. Field of the Description
The present invention relates, in general, to display systems (or special effects (FX) systems) that use light to create interesting and entertaining effects and illusions, and, more particularly, to a system or assembly configured to cause a handheld or mounted element such as a toy light sword or shaft to appear to the user and others to emit a glowing field of light or to have a penumbra (e.g., a space of partial illumination about its exterior surfaces).
2. Relevant Background
There is an ongoing search in the entertainment industry to find new ways to entertain large and small audiences. Likewise, the toy industry is continuously searching for the next big advance in toy designs to attract new markets to their products. Often, both of these industries will try to build on special effects from the film industry to try to provide an entertaining theatrical display or a new toy that replicates a movie prop or device.
For example, toy designers have struggled for years to provide a shafts or tubes of light such as used for light fights or sword-like duels in many science fiction movies. In the movies, it is easy to create a visual special effect where the light itself becomes a “blade” of a sword and where a blindingly bright light emerges from a sword's hilt when activated. The sword's beam of light (or light blade) is caused to grow to a specific length and then stop.
However, the physical world facing the amusement park, theater, and other live setting in the entertainment industry and facing the toymaker is much different. In this physical world, light simply does not behave in this manner. Theatrical replications of the light sword or shaft, for example, would have to suffer with extending poles with internal lighting that simply do not capture the magic that the audience imagines and remembers from the movies as the poles are often readily visible. Likewise, light saber or similar toys often simply encase a series of lights within a plastic pole or blade (e.g., lights encased in a translucent to transparent plastic shell). The operator of the theatrical prop or child playing with the toy simply flips a switch to turn on the internal lights, but, typically, neither the audience nor the playing child is fooled by the resulting light display.
Hence, there remains a need for generating a special effects system or assembly that is useful in generating a glowing illusion that can be associated with a prop or toy such as a handheld object (e.g., a blade or shaft made out of light extending from a handheld base or hilt). Preferably, the special effects system would be relatively simple and inexpensive to implement such that it can be provided for toys provided to a large market. Further, it often will be desirable for the source of the glow or penumbra about the toy or prop (e.g., nearly any object may be caused to glow according to the present description) to be hidden from observers (e.g., hidden from the toy operator's friends or from a nearby audience watching a scene being performed).